"The sweetest white lie of the CMJ Music Marathon came from the folky songwriter Lia Ices, leading her band at the Lower East Side club Pianos on Thursday night. While half the crowd chatted indifferently, she sang, "For only you I sing, for only you." Yet Ms. Ices, whose debut album is due in January, was playing CMJ, along with more than 1,000 other groups, for precisely the opposite reason. She was seeking a chance to be heard, sooner or later, by a larger audience." [NY Times]

Neon Indian co-headlined the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars?) Group CMJ showcase at Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night, 10/23. After a super long week of shooting day and night, Amanda didn't make it to their midnight set. She did get to the show though and caught openers Braids (6pm), Fake Problems (6:45), Lord Huron (7:30), Lia Ices (8:30), Lower Dens (9:15), and Wild Nothing (10:00). She left before Dom. I also went to the show but got there close to when Neon Indian was finishing (I caught Surfer Blood's entire 1am set).

Did you miss Neon Indian too? The next chance to see them is tonight (10/29), at Brooklyn Bowl where they're playing with the buzz-tacular lineup of Prince Rama and Apache Beat. Tickets are still on sale, and I have a pair you can win.

Details on how you can win, with tonight's flyer (under the pics), and more pictures from the Bowery Ballroom show (sans Neon Indian), below...

Freelance Whales break into song
while waiting for that confounded L-train (more by Ryan Barkan)

Freelance Whales are hitting the road two weeks from today for a string of dates with Minature Tigers. The tour which kicks off on 11/5 at Maxwell's (a show that was recently added) and concludes with a homecoming show at Webster Hall on 12/15, will take them coast to coast in celebration of Weathervanes, their new album out now on Frenchkiss Records. Tickets are still available for both the Maxwell's and the Webster Hall show.

If you were hoping to see them sooner, you're in luck. But you're also out of luck. Freelance Whales will also be playing an invite-only show Friday (10/22) as part of the Green Label Sound series with Theophilus London, Neon Indian, and a DJ set from Flosstradamus at Backstage Bar.

Green Label Sound is the Mountain Dew "label". Freelance Whales are their latest "signing". Download new track "Enzymes" at the site.

In addition to those, Dom has a CMJ show at Bowery Ballroom set for October 23rd. That's the same CMJ show that Neon Indian is playing, now with venue revealed. The killer "VFW Group Presents" CMJ bill also includes Wild Nothing, Lower Dens, Lia Ices, Fake Problems, Lord Huron and The Static Jacks. Tickets go on sale Thursday at noon.

And in addition to those gigs, Dom headliners a pre-Halloween (Mischief Night) show at 171 Lombardy (502 Varick Ave @ Lombardy St), along with Smith Westerns, Yellow Fever, Total Slacker and Sweet Bulbs. That's one night after Neon Indianplays Brooklyn Bowl.

Dom, Wild Nothing and Lower Dens are all also on board for a Stereogum CMJ party happening at Santos Party House on October 20th. And I guess I might as well point out that Dom, Wild Nothing and Lower Dens are all booked for TBA BrooklynVegan parties happening during CMJ too. Stay tuned for more details.

"The Levi's brand and Urban Outfitters are bringing Boston music fans a free concert with a twist - a show by Neon Indian powered exclusively by generators in a truly unique and top-secret location. The first show of the "Secret Generator Series" happened last weekend with Deerhunter playing a show below an underpass in downtown Chicago. Now it's time to announce the secret Boston location for the Neon Indian show:

Neon Indian will play
Sunday, Oct. 3 at the Power Station at 540 Harrison Avenue in South Boston. Doors at 3pm, show at 4pm

That Boston show is a pitstop for Neon Indian who are currently on your with Prefuse 73 and Miniature Tigers. That tour ends in Toronto on 10/12 (with Class Actress replacing MT on the final two dates).

Neon Indian will then be back in NYC for at least two shows at the end of the October. The first will happen at TBA location on 10/23 for CMJ. The second will be a normal old show at Brooklyn Bowl on Friday, October 29th. Tickets for that last one go on sale Monday at noon.

Saturday night's "Gone to Governors" show included sets by Neon Indian & Miniature Tigers, Dom, Nite Jewel, and Prefuse 73 who probably would have been the headliner if the order of the lineup was based on seniority. Instead Prefuse played fourth, before the much buzzed headliner Neon Indian who will also be Scott Herren's tour-mate across North America in the fall.

Prefuse's live Governors Island hip hop-infused set included electronics, vocals, live drumming and coordinated, sometimes-pornographic visuals. The sound was booming and they sounded great in the outdoor setting. If you didn't feel like dancing, you could always just watch the screen, or walk around staring at the water and skyline with bugged out zombie eyes as many in attendance were.

Prefuse 73 will play a DJ set at Studio Square in Long Island City on Saturday, August 21st, as part of an oil spill benefit. There doesn't seem to be too many details about the event listed anywhere, but Myspace says 9:00-11:30.

Erika from Au Revoir Simone joined Neon Indian for a song @ Governors Island

Special guests are usually show highlights, and this time was no exception though Erika Forster's appearance on stage with Neon Indian on Governors Island was a bit marred by the fact that you could barely hear her at first. They played a live version of the Neon Indian remix of "Another Likely Story". The second half of the song was really good though, as was most of Neon Indian's headlining set. Some in the crowd held glo-sticks and wore headdresses as they danced along to the chill waves being transmitted over the multi-colored, lit-up palmtree-decorated beach that gives everyone a beautiful view of the Manhattan and Jersey City skylines (including the performers who made note of the view at least once).

The Converse-presented "Gone to Governors" show also included entertaining and free sets by Prefuse 73, Dom, Nite Jewel, and late addition, Arizona band Miniature Tigers who were kept secret until after their Friday night Mercury Lounge show with the Spinto Band. At Governors Island, they went on at 8 and played 6 songs. I missed them by a minute (I got there before Nite Jewel went on).

Neon Indian, who produced the track "Gold Skull" on Miniature Tigers' new album, will pair of up with Miniature Tigers again, for a fall tour, and for a semi-secret, private NYC show at The Studio at Webster Hall tonight (8/16). The intimate show will be taped and streamed live by MTV.com.

7:30 doors
8pm Miniature Tigers
9pm Neon Indian

I don't know if MT's opening set will also be streamed, but you can check it out if you attend the show which... you can go to for free if you win one of the three pairs of tickets I have to giveaway. Details on how to win those tickets below.

Neon Indian will be releasing "a newly mastered deluxe edition CD and double Vinyl" of their debut album Psychic Chasms "on September 28, 2010 and digitally on August 31 via FADER Label / Static Tongues"...

Wall Street Journal: How are you adjusting to the move from Austin to New York?

Alan Palomo: New York has a really funny way of lighting a fire under your a** and keeping you in that state of mind where you have to be creative just to even survive. Whereas I feel like Texas, as much as I love it, it's so laid back it inspires a breed of meandering.

WSJ: Are you feeling pressure to keep up the momentum?

Alan Palomo: As soon as we're off tour in late October, I'm going to start writing the new Neon Indian record. And I'm already halfway done with the VEGA record. I figure for the Neon Indian record, I need to get out of New York, given that I have so many friends there. I need to throw myself into that state of mind that helped spawn the first one, which is to isolate myself in some city that I don't know much about. The fantasy is Helsinki.

And this past weekend, while Dom was playing the Siren Festival (Apache Beat too) (they did the remix you can download for free above), Alan was busy in Chicago hanging out and then playing the 2010 Pitchfork Festival (Neon Indian's set was on Sunday). Some more pictures from his Pitchfork set, and all NI dates, below...

The above-pictured Pavement show took place in May 2010 (and wasn't free). In September, Pavement will play Virgin Mobile FreeFest (and it is free)....

"Breaking from traditional festivals, the Virgin Mobile FreeFest presented by Kyocera unveiled its lineup for the award-winning festival, selecting relevant, important, and eclectic headliners to represent this year's free show. This morning, Chairman of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson announced the lineup on Virgin Mobile Live, the company's new Internet music stream available on Virgin Mobile websites.

Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be held Saturday, September 25 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. Tickets to the 2010 Virgin Mobile FreeFest will be available to the public on www.ticketfly.com at 10 am EST on Saturday, July 24th.

Not bad for a free show (and yet another Pavement show!). More details, with the full set of pictures of Pavement playing this year's Sasquatch Fest, below...

"Who knew the best performer of the day would be a blonde bombshell spinning Euro-disco? Robyn -- another Swede and a former child star who's fought hard to regain her own artistic control -- came out throwing punches in the air when she wasn't doing that elbows-high, shoulder-leaning dance all '80s female singers used to do. Fiesty, sexy, spunky, Robyn opened with the virtues of being a "Fembot," assured us that love hurts "With Every Heartbeat" and sang flawlessly through new single "Dancing on My Own" in front of a band dressed in all white, twiddling knobs and pounding synth-pad drums. The latter really exploded at the end of "Cobrastyle," with Robyn showing some kick-box dancing. Her Pink-ish pluck reached its zenith in "Don't F---ing Tell Me What to Do," during which she led some kind of aerobics class (sporting a totally Pat Benatar green beret, too). And she was the crowd favorite. Go figure." [Chicago Sun Times]

Saturday's event will be streaming online. That includes the performances by Sleigh Bells, Die Antwoord and the secret guest, who, if you didn't figure it out already, is M.I.A.. UPDATE: the event will be streaming, but not the performances, just the exhibits.

Neon Indian brought topless body-painted "Neon Indians" on stage at the end of their Bonnaroo set last night (6/10). That set (as of 1:50pm EST) is about to stream online (though whether they cut that part remains to be seen) (note that the streaming times are not EST and that the YouTube stream is video and NPR is audio and that they have different schedules).

Some pictures (NSFW) of the Neon Indians and a video interview with Alan from two hours before he took the Bonnaroo stage, below...

In May, Vice and Intel announced the Creators Project, an art & music series that would be hosting events in various cities and on its website. The NYC kick off for that will be Saturday, June 26th at Milk Studios and will include performances by Interpol, Mark Ronson, Die Antwoord, The Rapture, Sleigh Bells, Gang Gang Dance, Salem, N.A.S.A., Neon Indian, Lemonade and others, plus a "very special guest." The event is free; RSVP here. How big is the space exactly? They write that "the eight-floor art gallery and performance space will host thousands of people for live concerts, art exhibits, film screenings and panel discussions by leading artists and the next generation of innovators."

It's the first of five events in different cities- the others are slated for London, Sao Paulo, Seoul and a three-day event Beijing.

For Interpol, it will be the first time we see them with their new lineup (unless they announce something else soon).

Pictures from the Creators Project announcement event, and a flyer and the full lineup of music and visual art (which includes work by Spike Jonze, Nick Zinner, Danny Perez/Animal Collective's ODDSAC and more) are below...

What is now being considered the full lineup for the ten-show, Converse-sponsored "Gone to Governors" series at Governors Island is almost complete (openers still TBA). There are ten shows total - seven of which are on Saturdays. One is on a Friday. Two are on Sundays (one of which is July 4th). All except Local Natives on August 7th are free.

The doors are at 6pm, show at 8pm for all shows (except for the afternoon She & Him show, which has doors at noon, show at 4pm). I originally thought there would be shows every Saturday, but I'm told this is it (for now anyway).
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/06/dr_dog_governor.html
Ferry service to Governors Island for the "Gone to Governors" shows is free. As previously reported the series is being co-produced by Bowery Presents, Highline Ballroom and Mad Dog Presents with Converse and event partner Water Taxi Beach. BrooklynVegan is the media sponsor.

The Morning Benders will headline the second show in the series on June 19th, and they just released new song "Go Grab A Stranger," a Big Echo b-side currently available as a limited tour 7", streaming below. A remix of their song "Cold War" by Oakland act Wallpaper is available above.

"Go Grab A Stranger" and more info on the Gov. Island shows are below...

Wild Nothing (as previously highlighted HERE, HERE and HERE) (the solo project of Jack Tatum that has since expanded into a full band - see above) released their/his debut full-length, Gemini, on Captured Tracks today (5/25 - also Beach Fossils' release day). Grab an MP3 from the album above. The full tracklist, with the video for the same song, is below.

In June Wild Nothing plays some dates with Neon Indian including the gig at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets). Jack Tatum then hits the road for another handful of dates with the Depreciation Guild. All shows listed below...

George Clinton [who did NOT play with Massive Attack] popularized the phrase "Free your mind and your ass will follow," but few of his successors have pursued the concept as doggedly as Britain's Massive Attack. At this, their first Stateside show in four years [on Tuesday night], the core duo of Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall surrounded themselves with a passel of rhythm-savvy players and -- even more vividly -- with a dizzying multimedia show that came across like Disneyland's Electrical Parade as curated by Noam Chomsky.

Drawing heavily from the recently released Virgin set "Heligoland" -- the band's highest-charting disc to date -- the band didn't hammer home its rhetoric in the songs themselves but did rely on some intriguing juxtapositions. As reggae veteran Horace Andy -- one of a rotating cast of singers -- ramped up the emotion on the bluesy "Girl, I Love You," an ominous video matched that escalation with an increasing dollar figure signifying money spent on the Iraq war. [Variety on Massive Attack night 1]

The highly political Massive Attack followed up their May 11th show at Terminal 5 with the second of their two shows at the venue last night, Wednesday, 5/12. Anti-Pop Consortium opened night one, and Neon Indian took their opening spot for the second night. Martina Topley-Bird opened both and performed as one of the band's rotating vocalists for both. Others behind the mic included Horace Andy and Deborah Miller.

The Terminal 5 gigs came after two in Toronto. The short "tour" finishes up on the west coast and ends with an appearance at Sasquatch on May 30th. More pictures of the headliner from the May 12th show (the many outfits of Matina Topley-Bird included), with the openers from the May 11th show, and a video compilation of songs from night one with three videos from night two, below...

This summer in NYC is already boiling over with free shows and none of the Sunday Pool Parties at the Williamsburg Waterfront have even been announced yet (sort of). Spending Sundays at free concerts in Williamsburg is now a tradition that started a few years ago at McCarren Pool (and relocated last year to the Waterfront). Sponsors come on board to make sure the bands get paid, and we all get to spend days outdoors in a somewhat unique NYC concert environment.

There's Summerstage, Celebrate Brooklyn, and other series of shows all summer long, but none are quite like (as "hipster"?) as the Pool Parties. Until now. As previously mentioned, there will be "a new free Saturday-afternoon concert series at the Beach". Sponsored by Converse, and booked by Bowery, there's now a place to go on Saturday too. Also with bands in the day, outside and for free. They're calling it "Gone to Governors".

As also previously announced, She & Him are playing a free show on Governors Island on the 4th of July (a Sunday). That show will be considered part of the "Gone to Governors" series that now also so far includes Yeasayer on June 5th and Neon Indian on August 14th.

"All shows at The Beach on Governors Island will be held rain-or-shine. Beer, liquor, non-alcoholic drinks and food will be available for purchase. For more information about the ferry schedule, the series, artists and performances, general restrictions and rules and the latest updates and additions to the lineup, visit The Beach at Governors Island website at www.thebeachconcerts.com."

"Ariel Pink completely obliterating to the max at mercury lounge! and being wasted on top of that is a plus plus pus." - Neon Indian

"How long does it take for an indie rocker to become a musical granddaddy? About five years.

In 2004 the Brooklyn band Animal Collective -- nearly granddaddies themselves at that time -- introduced a musical prankster from Los Angeles called ARIEL PINK (real name: Ariel Rosenberg). His albums, credited to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, were a hazy mess, from the layers of cruddy tape hiss to the way the songs seemed to absorb chunks from other songs, like a radio tuning in random stations. Somewhere beneath all this interference shone nuggets of nostalgic pop.

Flash forward to 2009, as music blogs alighted with a wave of new acts like Neon Indian, Washed Out and Memory Tapes that used clouds of reverb to distort 1980s-esque electronic pop. (Think Depeche Mode, underwater.) These bands were alternately identified as chillwave or glo-fi, but they were following a trail first laid by Ariel Pink." [NY Times]

The always-interesting R Stevie Moore ("one of Mr. Pink's personal heroes") opened the Mercury Lounge show where Billy Jones reports that "Bright Lit Blues Skies was great but Ariel Pink didn't play the last chorus, outro to Round and Round. Kind of a dick move."

Neon Indianwill be playing with Avi Buffalo at their free South Street Seaport show, as part of the summer series there, on July 30th. The almost-full schedule of free Seaport Music shows will be announced soon, but it already also includes Best Coast, Thee Oh Sees, Bear in Heaven, YACHT, Zola Jesus and others.

UPDATE: Though announced in a set of Avi Buffalo tour dates, I was informed that Neon Indian is NOT playing South Street Seaport (I guess he was supposed to... but probably took a different summer show... stay tuned for who is playing and where Neon Indian is playing instead. sorry.)
UPDATE 2: Chad VanGaalen is playing with Avi Buffalo at the Seaport on July 30th.

Modest Mouse will be reissuing their third album, The Moon & Antarctica, on vinyl for its 10th anniversary, on Record Store Day - this Saturday, April 17th. "The album features restored original artwork and replicates the infinite lock groove found in the original vinyl pressings of 2000. The new vinyl reissue includes a download card for the album." All dates the the P4K Fest lineup, below...

Neon Indian announced a bunch more tour dates around their appearances at Sasquatch in May and Bonnaroo in June. Those new dates include a June 4th gig at LA's Natural History Museum and a June 17th headlining show at Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn (if I had to guess, I'd say tickets will go on sale this Friday). There are also two dates opening for Massive Attack. Massive Attack play Terminal 5 in NYC on May 11th and 12th (tickets still on sale for both). Neon Indian will open the one on the 12th and then travel with the band to Boston to open for them at House of Blues. Check out the new Brahms (Eric Lodwick, Drew Robinson, and Cale Parks) remix above. All dates below....

After spending four days in Austin for SXSW, my personal MtyMx experience started with an all-day trip from Austin to Monterrey on Sunday. I arrived to see Andrew W.K.'s set that night, the after-party at the Garage, and Monday from first to last band (minus the comedy set with Dan Deacon, though there are pictures of him too). I'm now writing this from Tennessee where the Big Ears Fest is about to begin. Stay tuned for reports about that, and check out my pictures from the festival in Mexico, with captions, below...

The experiment that was the first MtyMx Festival is over. The last day of Todd P's Mexican festival (3/22) featured 14 acts, half of which were from Mexico. Liars, HEALTH, and Neon Indian all made it for their headlining sets (the acts that were flown in had very few problems for the most part). The rest of the last day's lineup included Ratas del Vaticano (Mexico), Indian Jewelry, Lemonade, BamBam (Mexico), Jóvenes y Sexys (Venezuela), Mockinpott (Mexico), Best Fwends, High Places, Alexico (Mexico), Mentira Mentira (Mexico) and Sr. Amable & Mr. Racoon (Mexico). The Monday after-fest show that was held at Yo Garage for all three nights featured sets by Coasting, noisepunks XYX, and Mentira Mentira (again).

Bands that didn't make it for their Monday sets for one reason or another included No Age, Thee Oh Sees (they tried to get past the border at least twice), Liturgy, The Sandwitches, Javelin, Salem, DD/MM/YYY, Fergus and Geronimo, Big Troubles, Pictureplane, Gauntlet Hair, Tearist, Josephine and the Mousepeople, and Baths. Remember that was just day three. It was a similar situation each day, but I never planned on being there for the first day (SXSW), and I got there much later than expected on the second. As I write/dictate this, I'm currently waiting for a noon (note: it's two hours earlier here than it is in NY) Greyhound bus out of Monterrey that's going back to Austin (an approximately 8 hour trip that took about 11 hours of driving and 8 hours of waiting on the way in). There were two 1am Todd P buses that left last night directly after Liars, but our stuff (and a bed) was in our hotel room.

[note: Andrew is now on the bus]

How to get home seemed to be the main focus on everyone's mind early on the last day. Once that was all figured out, things turned more optimistic and Todd P even made announcements referencing next year.

Dan Deacon was a constant presence at the festival. He actually replaced Thee Oh Sees on the last day as "Dan Deacon & friends", a short comedy set. Another group that performed for multiple days was Das Racist who treated late Sunday night arrivals to an energetic set at the after-party.

Though I only spent 36 hours total in Monterrey and saw fewer bands than I caught Thursday afternoon in Austin, I made lots of new friends, saw some great sets, and it was an experience that won't soon be forgotten. Safety was a big question, but though the festival had issues (including theft on the festival grounds, and at least one mugging), people actually getting hurt wasn't one of them.